“I will let the Finance Minister II respond,” he said while wrapping up his Budget speech for the Home Ministry in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) had earlier asked the home minister if there was a special unit within the police to investigate lawmakers, especially on the RM2.6 billion issue.
He also wanted to know the status of the investigation by the Inspector-General of Police and Attorney-General on the case.
“Why can’t we get an answer when other countries are probing the issue?”
Gobind said Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali had said Najib had returned RM2.03 billion from the RM2.6 billion that was channelled into his personal bank accounts as political donation.
Apandi had previously said the money was returned to the Saudi royal family in August 2013, two months after the last general election, because the sum was not utilised. The government has maintained that the RM2.6 billion donation to Najib came from the Saudi royals.
“You have said that you have met the donor. Malaysia has one position and the US has another position.”
The US Justice Department reported that US$731 million which originated from the state investment arm 1MDB went into the account of an unnamed official designated as “Malaysian Official 1”.
However, Zahid reiterated his reply: “It will be answered by the Finance MInistry.”
Gobind added: “But this is a police case”.
Zahid added that the Home Ministry had given the report to a task force and he would let the Finance Ministry respond on the issue.
He also said he had forwarded the information on the donors of the RM2.6 billion to the task force.
Meanwhile, N. Surendran (PKR-Padang Serai) earlier told the Dewan Rakyat that the International Parliament Union had ranked Malaysia the second highest for lack of freedom of speech among lawmakers.
“We are the second highest after Congo. Why is action carried out against opposition lawmakers?”
To this Zahid said: “I hope Padang Serai will see some insurance companies to insure his mouth.”